When Life Isn't Simply Black or White

Published: June 5, 1991

(Page 2 of 2)

Although various forms and applications do not recognize multiracial people, they are gaining attention in a variety of other ways. A magazine called Interrace, for example, focuses on interracial people and issues and has attracted more than 8,200 subscribers since it was first published in 1989, said the publisher, Candace Mills of Schenectady, N.Y.

Earlier this year, a graduate student in anthropology at Berkeley, Francine Winddance Twine, produced "Just Black?" a documentary film about seven multiracial women. Spike Lee's new movie, "Jungle Fever," which opens Friday, explores the beauty of and anger toward interracial love.

And HarperCollins, plans to add to the growing list of books on interracial people next year by publishing "Love in Black and White" by Mark Mathabane, the author of "Kaffir Boy" (MacMillan, 1986). The new book by Mr. Mathabane, a black South African tennis player who lives in Winston-Salem, N.C., with his white American wife, Gail, and their two children, is a personal portrayal of challenges like facing family scorn and raising biracial children.

At Michigan, many multiracial students told Ms. Downing, a 28-year-old librarian who founded the Multiracial Group in 1988, a year of racial tension on that campus, that they felt uncomfortable in black organizations when some members showed anti-white attitudes. That is a personal affront to someone who has a white parent, Ms. Downing said. Leaders of multiracial groups at other schools have reported similar sentiments.

Ms. Downing said that being involved in the 50-member group has boosted her confidence to speak up when she hears racial slurs from blacks or whites. The Berkeley film maker, Ms. Twine, 30, who is white, black and American Indian, said she was ostracized by blacks and whites at Northwestern 10 years ago. "It was really painful," she said. "It's like you don't belong anywhere."

Things are different now that she has joined Misc. "I have a safe space," she said. "I don't have to defend myself or hide anything, and I'm not judged on my physical appearance. People acknowledge my multiracial identity."

Some students said they feared that touting multiculturalism could be perceived as rejecting their nonwhite heritage. "We're trying to get rid of this myth of passing or using our multiracial heritage as a badge of honor," Ms. Langworthy said.

Mr. Sevilla, 23, who is Filipino and white, adds: "Our existence is not some sort of freakish or bad decision by two people. It's commonplace, and people are going to have to start accepting it."

Photo: At Stanford, Carl Hicks, right, and Isaac Kato, meet regularly with other multiracial students. (Fred Mertz for The New York Times) (pg. C1); "I live, I breathe, I pay taxes, but I'm an 'other' on a census form," said Ramona Douglass, left, with George Bailey. Carl Hicks, above far right, formed a multiracial club at Stanford. (Fred Mertz for The New York Times) (pg. C7)